Men's basketbal can't hold off hot-shooting Cougars
Posted by Administrator on Jan 28 2009
Sports >>

Photo by Cody Riedel
Jeremy Cruise, a sophomore guard from St. Edward, looks to make his move against the Colorado Christian defense. The Cougars rallied to beat UNK 75-70 Saturday at the Health and Sports Center.

By Matt Lindsay
Antelope Staff

Coming into Saturday night's games with Colorado Christian, both of UNK's
basketball teams were riding three-game losing streaks.

Unlike their female counterparts though, the Loper men were unable to end its losing streak as Colorado Christian used a strong second half to power past the Lopers 75-70.

The Lopers came into the contest winless at home since Jan. 3 when the team beat Doane 69-45. Things seemed to be heading in the right direction for the Lopers in the first half as they led 40-28 at the break.

It was a different story in the second half, though, as the Lopers would shoot only 31.3 percent from the floor after shooting 55.2 percent in the first half. The Lopers also struggled on the boards in the second half, getting out rebounded by Christian 24-16.

"I'd say it was definitely a tale of two halves," Co-Head Coach Tom Kropp said. "We played a decent first half and a very poor second half, and if you don't play 40 minutes it's very hard to win."

In addition to being outshot and outrebounded in the second half, the Lopers gave up eight second half-turnovers, which is something that has plagued the team all season long.

Colorado Christian carried the momentum throughout the second half and managed to cut the Lopers' lead down to two with five minutes remaining when the Cougars' Jordan Long took over. Long, who transferred from UNK to Colorado Christian after his freshman year, scored 10 points in the final five minutes of the game to cement the win for Christian.

"Jordan Long is a great kid. I'm happy for him," Kropp said. "I guess if you had to pick out one play, he hit a couple of big threes in the second half that were pretty big threes."

Long finished the game leading all scorers with 24 points. Chris Deans, a freshman from Hemingford, scored 17 points to the lead the way for the Lopers. Junior Richard Marion of Omaha and sophomore Jeremy Cruise of St. Edward also finished in double figures, scoring 11 points and 14 points respectively. UNK's leading scorer this season, junior Drake Beranek of Ravenna, finished the game with 13 points after not scoring in the first half. With the loss, UNK falls to 3-6 in the RMAC and 6-10 overall. Colorado Christian improves to 6-3 in the conference and 11-6 overall.